Here is the next chapter, still nice and warm off the press. Get your ToaLW fix now, folks!

Episode 94 The Masters of War Clash!

At length, Silver forces herself off the ground, and stares miserably down at Tide’s body for some time. His broken body lies peacefully on the floor, already growing deathly pale.

“Shuriken,” Silver says, addressing the hermit behind her, “help me lift his body off the floor.”

“You intend to take it with you?” Shuriken asks, stepping hesitantly towards the body.

“We must give him a proper burial, at least,” Silver replies, “after all that’s happened…” She sighs, and stuffs the sealed scroll into her pocket with little celebration.

“Very well,” Shuriken retorts softly, kneeling down to grab Tide’s cold body.

However, before Shuriken even has a chance to rise from the floor, his legs jerk in surprise, and he forces himself to leap back just in time. A bloodied red axe comes flying through the air, and strikes the ground where Shuriken had been kneeling moments before.

“Well, well, look what I’ve found,” Lord Gilford shouts triumphantly, huffing and puffing his way into the midst of the library. He stares down at Tide’s dead body on the floor. “It seems you’ve had a bit of success with that idiot, eh? Well, your luck’s about to run out!”

“Gilford!” Silver, Shuriken, and Sasha shout in unison.

Gilford stomps his way past Tide’s body, and grabs the handle of his axe. He wrenches it out of the cracked floor, and raises it against the three others in the room.

As Gilford does so, the sleeve on his left arm rises as well, and Shuriken widens his eyes as he notices the bleeding stump of an arm. ‘His left hand…! What could’ve hap—’

“What are you looking at, huh?!” Gilford screams wrathfully, rounding on Shuriken. He slams his axe through the air, and Shuriken leaps backwards as the axe comes crashing towards the ground in a violent fit of rage.

As he lands, Shuriken fires a Tobi under his arm towards Gilford, who skillfully deflects it with the blade of his axe. He swings his axe again, hard, and this time strikes before Shuriken can react. With a heave, Gilford hurls Shuriken high into the air, sending him crashing into the wall behind him.

Meanwhile, in a corner of the room, Sasha watches on, while Silver loads a pair of arrows into her bow. She catches Silver’s eye, and nods. ‘Gilford looks pretty roughed up…if we work together, we can probably take him down as a team.’

Silver fires the two arrows from her bow directly at Gilford, who spins and cuts them down with his axe in midflight. For one moment, Gilford takes his eyes off Sasha as he turns, and Sasha then takes the chance to pounce on him, ramming her Berzerker straight into his armored shoulder.

At the last moment, Gilford blocks the blow with his injured arm, and a stream of blood spurts out of it. It splashes on Sasha, and she is forced to stop in her tracks as it blinds her eyes.

“Sasha!” Silver howls, as Gilford raises his axe against her.

Sasha ducks, but not quickly enough; on her way down, Gilford’s axe slices past her shoulder, leaving a semi-shallow wound. She coughs out blood, and collapses to the floor as her shoulder begins to bleed profusely.

“Sasha!” Silver cries again, rushing to her side.

Gilford cackles gleefully, as he turns his axe upon Silver and Sasha. “Hasn’t anyone ever taught you to never turn your back against an opponent?!”

In a triumphant motion, Gilford swings his axe down upon the two girls. However, his axe meets with the resistance of an Avenger in midair. Gilford instantly recognizes Shuriken standing between him and the two girls. Shuriken smiles grimly.

“Hasn’t anyone ever taught you to never turn your weapon against the defenseless?”

Lily sits on a stool in the middle of her holding cell, gloomily staring at the floor. Memories of her brief conversation with Kunai and the subsequent battle with Gilford flash rapidly through her mind. “Kunai…” she murmurs sadly.

All of a sudden, Lily looks up in surprise, as a mechanical door slides open. She leaps to her feet, and runs to the very edge of her cell, clutching desperately at the cold iron bars. “Ryuu! Ayame!”

The two of them hurry into the room, a bit roughed up, but otherwise unharmed. Ryuu and Ayame come to a stop in front of Lily’s cell, inspecting the area around it for a moment.

“It seems to be unguarded,” Ayame comments softly.

“Yeah,” Ryuu agrees, “looks like all the guards are out searching for us. Perfect. I had a feeling Gilford might be waiting for us here, but seems like we even beat him here.”

“What are the two of you doing here?” Lily inquires, thoroughly surprised.

Ryuu blinks in confusion. “What are we doing here? Why, to get you out of here, of course!”

“‘Get me out of here?’” Lily repeats under her breath.

Ryuu nods. “Stand back,” he growls, grabbing his sword. With one clean swipe, he slashes apart the iron bars, and Lily watches as they fall to the ground with a clatter.

“Let’s get you out of here before Gilford catches up,” Ryuu says, as Lily steps out of her cell at last.

“Damn it all!” Lord Gilford howls, as he continues to swing his axe furiously, only to be rejected each time by Shuriken’s swifter Avenger. ‘It sure is damn inconvenient having only one arm!’

Gilford suddenly lets up, pausing momentarily to catch his breath. ‘Damn him…!’ But without warning, Shuriken pounces on the opportunity, letting his Avenger loose and hitting Gilford directly in the stomach.

Gilford goes flying, and crashes with a loud commotion into a shelf of books. Out of the chaos of falling books, Shuriken steps forward, holding another Avenger in his hand.

He glares down at the fallen Gilford with a look of complete indifference. “My apologies,” Shuriken says abruptly, “for though you have never necessarily done anything to wrong me, it is my responsibility to defeat you. However…”

Without mercy, Shuriken leaps forward with lightning speed, and grabs Gilford, hurling him into the air with incredible strength. “Death is your reward for hurting others!” Shuriken sends his Avenger flying like a cannonball, and it strikes its target with flawless accuracy.

The Avenger collides harshly with Gilford, throwing him through the air and eventually exploding through the library wall. He crashes hard, and lands in a pile of rubble in the room behind the wall.

On the other side, Ryuu, Ayame, and Lily turn around in alarm, as they spot Gilford lying on the floor. Through the hole in the wall, they find Shuriken, Silver, and Sasha standing inside the library.

“Shuriken! Everyone!” Ayame shouts in perplexed surprise. She runs joyfully through the collapsed wall and joins the others. “So you guys have been here all this time!”

Ayame suddenly freezes, as she notices the melancholy look in Silver’s eyes. “Eh? What’s with the gloomy look, Silver?”

“We’ve recovered the plans used by the Four of Victoria Island to seal the four worlds from each other,” Silver mutters sadly.

“Well, that…that’s a good thing, right?” Ayame retorts, still confused. “Why are you so sad about that?”

Silver shakes her head, and breaks down, as Sasha attempts to comfort her, nursing an open wound of her own. “Tide…” Sasha stutters weakly, “he’s—”

Ayame freezes on the spot again, as her roaming eyes land on Tide’s motionless body. She merely remains standing still, her eyes wide open as they stare at the body. “You’re kidding, right? Tide…”

“I see,” Ryuu says suddenly, stepping past the ruined wall and joining the others in the library himself. “So Tide hadn’t really betrayed us after all.”

“‘Hadn’t really betrayed us?’” Ayame questions. “What do you mean?!”

“Judging from the circumstances, it definitely looks as though—” Ryuu starts.

“DON’T BE SPEAKING AS THOUGH I’M ALREADY DEAD!” Gilford howls suddenly, rising to his feet from beneath the rubble.

Shuriken, Ryuu, and Ayame jump in surprise, and ready their weapons as they turn around to face Gilford. He stands on the threshold between the two rooms, blood spilling out of his grisly wounds everywhere. He grabs his axe with his right hand, and wipes some of the blood off his face with his injured arm.

“What happened to your hand?” Ryuu asks bluntly.

“Never mind about that,” Gilford breathes angrily. “One hand should be enough for one I’m about to do!”

“Don’t kid yourself,” Ryuu smirks, “not even two hands are gonna be enough for you to defeat all of us!”

“I don’t intend to fight you,” Gilford howls slyly.

Ryuu raises an eyebrow. “Then what the hell do you mean?”

“IF I CAN’T WIN, THEN I SHALL MERELY FORCE YOU TO LOSE ALSO!” Gilford screeches, spinning around and sending his axe flying.

Too late, Ryuu and Ayame realize that Lily is standing right behind Gilford. Lily merely watches, rooted to the spot in fear and surprise, as the axe glides rapidly towards her.

‘I’m going to die!’ Lily thinks to herself, as she closes her eyes fearfully, bracing herself for the impact of the axe. However, it never comes, as Shuriken darts in front of her at the last moment, taking the direct hit himself.

He stumbles to the floor, bleeding from the arms and legs, as Lily opens her eyes wide in shock. Gilford’s axe remains lodged in both of Shuriken’s arms, as his breathing becomes ragged due to the force of the collision.

As he watches the scene unfold, Gilford’s face turns from a maniacal sneer of triumph into one of panic, as his smile fails him. Suddenly, it twists and contorts itself into a grimace of pain as a sword emerges from within his stomach.

Gilford turns his head hatefully, even as Ryuu drives his sword deeper into Gilford’s body. “It’s over, Gilford,” Ryuu growls into his ear. “Give it up.”

“I’ll be damned if I lose to you!” Gilford replies wrathfully, raising his good arm. He reaches forward, making to grab Ryuu’s sword and pull it out of himself.

In the next second, however, Gilford’s right arm plummets to the floor. A mixture of fear, pain, and anger flashes across his face, as Ayame lowers her Geta. “It’s over, Gilford,” Ayame repeats.

Gilford looks down at his stomach, his breathing shallow. He then looks from side to side, first at Ayame and then at Ryuu. His left hand gone, and his right arm severed completely, Gilford lets out a howl of pain and fear that slowly fades away into a faint groan as Ryuu pulls his sword out.

Gilford raggedly falls to his knees, and then collapses onto the ground flat on his face, never to move again. Ryuu sheathes his sword, and looks down coldly upon Gilford’s dead body. “You shall be the last of the Myougun in the Maple World.”

Next Time: Episode 95 Glowing Ashes

Arai: Even in the darkest night, a ray of hope shines! What is this light at the end of the tunnel that beckons some to go onward? We shall find out next time when our story returns to the adventures of Ivy and Zack!

Arai: …

Arai: Oh, and Rill.

Rill: Hey!

Episode 95 Glowing Ashes coming soon!